Slayer frontman Tom Araya has been hospitalized in Sydney, forcing the band to cancel tonight's set at Soundwave Festival.

No details about Araya's injury or illness have been released, but the decision to cancel was made just moments before the band was due to hit the stage at the Sydney Showgrounds tonight, February 27th.

Just before 6pm, festival promoter AJ Maddah tweeted: "Tom Araya has been taken to hospital. Slayer set looking unlikely today " but within five minutes "unlikely" had been upgraded to a confirmation of the band's cancellation with Maddah confirming that Araya will be kept in hospital overnight, forcing the cancelation of the band's set.

Araya's unexplained illness isn't the only medical issue for Slayer at the moment. The thrash metal veterans are touring with Exodus guitarist Gary Holt standing in for regular Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman who is recovering from surgery on his right arm.

According to Maddah, Araya "will be OK" for Slayer's next scheduled performance at Soundwave in Melbourne on Saturday 4th March.

Araya underwent back surgery in early 2010 forcing the band to stay away from the live circuit for several months.

UPDATE

A severe ear infection is the reason Slayer's Tom Araya was hospitalised yesterday and why the band had to cancel their Sydney Soundwave slot.

Tom's wife, Sandra, told the fans on Facebook that her husband is feeling much better, but it will be a few days before the test results are back.

The iconic Slayer frontman was kept at the hospital overnight but has reportedly been released earlier today.

It would have been nice if they just gave some basic information of the seriousness of his condition and not make us wonder is it, for example, just food poisoning or a heart attack. Anyway, hope both Tom and Jeff get well soon.

Fuck man. i think Slayer should take a goddamned break from touring. so many health problems, especially for Araya.. these guys need some time off.

I think Slayer are getting too old for touring and playing music as physically demanding as their own.
They're not playing slow/mid-paced metal like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc. And I think it's not a kind of music they will be able to play live at 55-60, so they will have to stop playing live at some point because they will be unable to play their set.

Fuck man. i think Slayer should take a goddamned break from touring. so many health problems, especially for Araya.. these guys need some time off.

I think Slayer are getting too old for touring and playing music as physically demanding as their own.
They're not playing slow/mid-paced metal like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc. And I think it's not a kind of music they will be able to play live at 55-60, so they will have to stop playing live at some point because they will be unable to play their set.

i don't doubt them being able to play anymore, it's not like they move around the stage a lot anyway(and performance is not that big an issue, except maybe for Araya's voice), the problem in my opinion is their enormously demanding tour schedule. during the past year they've had almost 90 shows during the past 9 months (according to their official website), or one show every other 3 days on average. that's absolutely enormous for a band of their age and fame-level, and unfortunately many people are already tired of seeing Slayer in concert(i've already done so twice last year). they're not doing the band's legacy (and neither the fans) a favor by playing more and more tiring and health-consuming tours.

i mean, either they REALLY love touring, or they REALLY want the money that comes with gigs(which is quite a lot i believe, especially for big open-air shows).

Fuck man. i think Slayer should take a goddamned break from touring. so many health problems, especially for Araya.. these guys need some time off.

Agreed. Playing music like that is bound to take a toll someone.

as i said a while above, i'm not saying the music is too difficult(it's not, or maybe just Araya's vocals but that's it), it's mostly about them continuing this unhealthy lifestyle that's causing all these problems(along with, let's face it, old age)

Fuck man. i think Slayer should take a goddamned break from touring. so many health problems, especially for Araya.. these guys need some time off.

I think Slayer are getting too old for touring and playing music as physically demanding as their own.
They're not playing slow/mid-paced metal like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc. And I think it's not a kind of music they will be able to play live at 55-60, so they will have to stop playing live at some point because they will be unable to play their set.

i don't doubt them being able to play anymore

I know they still can do it but I think they won't be able to do it ten years from now or so.
They will be too old to play that fast.

I mean, how would you rather want to die? In an old age home being fed jello while shitting in a pan and feeling completely useless? Or would you rather die doing what you love to do? Just saying...

Perhaps, but you seem to neglect that it's not yours to decide sometimes. They can get simply too sick to tour or play live. It can't be summarized by your generalization when it comes to health issues. It's more complex than that.

Do you really believe most people in old age homes have chozen this fate? No. It happened like that and they have only 2 choices: accepting their sad fate or committing suicide. And some of them don't even have the possibility to choose the latter option.

And I think they will get too sick or weak to carry on long before playing live can kill them, most likely.

I mean, how would you rather want to die? In an old age home being fed jello while shitting in a pan and feeling completely useless? Or would you rather die doing what you love to do? Just saying...

Perhaps, but you seem to neglect that it's not yours to decide sometimes. They can get simply too sick to tour or play live. It can't be summarized by your generalization when it comes to health issues. It's more complex than that.

Do you really believe most people in old age homes have chozen this fate? No. It happened like that and they have only 2 choices: accepting their sad fate or committing suicide. And some of them don't even have the possibility to choose the latter option.

And I think they will get too sick or weak to carry on long before playing live can kill them, most likely.

I guess I can't really speak for the band themselves, but since I am from a blue collar family, the ''work till you die'' mentality is prominent around me. And I sense a similar type of mentality in bands like Slayer and Motorhead and such, so it's merely a personal view on it. But hey, if they feel they can't do it anymore and want to retire, then it's their business.

It would have been nice if they just gave some basic information of the seriousness of his condition and not make us wonder is it, for example, just food poisoning or a heart attack. Anyway, hope both Tom and Jeff get well soon.

Seriously, can't get a break. Hope it's nothing serious, Tom's an all time great and I'd hate to lose him. My Prayers go out to him (since he's Catholic and all. )

Yes there is because 90% of the times they aren't too good live any more any way.

Crap. He used a percentage, so his argument must be right.

Tbh it's actually 89.267% of the times

Having seen them half a dozen times, 4 in the early 90s (including hte LIve INtrusion VHS gig) and a couple times more recently, even if Slayer is a shell of their former selves live, they still are better than 90% of the other bands I've seen.